▪ I. threap, n. Now Sc. and north. dial.
(θriːp)
Forms: 3–4 þrep, 4–5 þrepe, threp, 4–6 threpe, 6 threip, threype, 7 threape, 8–9 threep, 8– threap.
[f. threap v.]
1. The action of threaping; contradiction, contention, argument, discussion; controversy, dispute; strife, quarrel, contest.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 13310 (Cott.) Wit-vten threp [Gött. ani threpe] or strijf. Ibid. 27609 O pride bicums throues o thrett, Hething, threp [v.r. þrepe], and athes grett. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 350 Enter in þenne..& haf þi wyf with þe, Þy þre sunez with-outen þrep & her þre wyuez. c 1400 Destr. Troy 5246 Þai hade no strenght to withstonde þe striff of þe pepull, Þat were þro men in threpe. 1418 26 Pol. Poems xiv. 78 Stryf wiþ comons, threp, and thro, To brynge þat in amendement. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) I. 37 We sall make threip ȝit or we ar ouirthrawin. 1794 Har'st Rig lxi, They stop at last, but still look laith The threap to yield. 1866 Carlyle Let. Apr. in Froude Life in L. (1884) II. xxviii. 308, I had privately a kind of threap that the brandy should be yours. 1886 S.W. Linc. Gloss. s.v., We had a bit of a threap about it. |
2. An act of threaping; a contradictive or pertinacious assertion; a hostile charge or accusation.
| 1538 Cromwell in Merriman Life & Lett. (1902) II. 128 To desire to conquer me by shrowde wordes, to vanquishe me by sharpe threpes of scripture. a 1699 J. Fraser in Wodrow Soc. Sel. Biog. (1847) II. 214 Let us..hear patiently all assertions and threaps. 1742 R. Forbes Ajax viii, At threeps I am na' sae perquire, Nor auld-farren as he. 1768 Ross Helenore iii. 111, I nae mair sall say this threap about,..That on my side the bargain did na fa'. 1864 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xv. xv. (1872) VI. 119 He had taken a threap that he would have it finished. 1897 J. C. Snaith Fierceheart vi. 67 The threep was fause, an he..got a thrawn thrapple for a deed he didna dae. |
b. Phr. to keep (to) one's threap.
| 1756 M. Calderwood Jrnl. (1884) 318 Encouraging her to keep to her threap. 1818 Scott Br. Lamm. xxvii, Lady Ashton..will, as Scotchmen say, keep her threep. |
† 3. Reproof, rebuke. (Cf. threap v. 1.) Obs. rare.
| 1636 James Iter Lanc. 276, I leaue thy heape Of bloodie crimes to God's revendge and threape. |
4. Comb. threap-ground, threap-land(s, land of disputed ownership, debatable land; spec. applied to the Debatable Lands of the Border.
| 1259 Registr. Aberdon. (Maitl.) I. 26 Super quadam terra que dicebatur threpland inter terram de Bondyngton..et terram de Newton. 1449 in Rymer Fœdera XI. 245/1 As touching the Landez callid Batable Landez or Threpe Landez in the West Marchez. 1568 in H. Campbell Love-Lett. Mary Q. Scots App. (1824) 15 The contraversy yerely arising by occasion of certein grounds upon the frontiers in the east marches, commonly called the threap-land, or debatable. 1825 E. Mackenzie Hist. Northumbld. II. 257 A long tract of land..which was formerly Debateable Land, or Threap Ground; but which, in 1552, was divided by agreement between the proper officers of both nations. 1858 Denham Folk-Lore 55 (E.D.D.) Part of Wooler Common is still undivided, owing to disputes respecting it. It is called Threap-ground. 1894 Heslop Northumbld. Gloss., Threap⁓lands, Threap-ground,..land the ownership of which is disputed. |
▪ II. threap, v. Now Sc. and north. dial.
(θriːp)
Forms: 1 ðreapian, 3 þreape, (Orm.) þræpenn, 3–5 þrepe, 3–7 threpe, 4–6 threppe, (4–5 pa. tense þrappit, þreppit), 5–6 threip, 6 thraip, 6–7 threape, 6–9 threep, 6– threap.
[OE. þréapian to rebuke, reprehend: of uncertain history.]
1. trans. To rebuke, reprove, chide, scold, blame.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxi. 165 Ðonne he to suiðe & to ðearllice ðreapian wile his hieremenn. a 1300 E.E. Psalter xciii[i]. 10 Þat vndretakes genge, noght threpe mon, Þat leres man wisedome to kun? 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 106 Let not mee falslye be threpped. 1682 Shadwell Lanc. Witches v. 71 Who threped and threped, and aw to becaw'd me. 1787 Grose Provinc. Gloss., Threap, or Threapen, to blame, rebuke, reprove, or chide. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss. s.v., I wen't be threp by a bairn like thoo. 1879 Clough B. Bresskittle 14 (E.D.D.) Th' owd lass..threap'd me foinly. |
† b. to threap (a person) with kindness = to threap kindness upon: see 4 b. Obs.
| 1567 Jewel Let. to Harding in Def. Apol. Rrr j b, Yee threape her Maiestie fondely with kindenesse. |
2. intr. To contend in words; to inveigh against; to argue, dispute; to quarrel, bicker, disagree; to wrangle about terms, haggle.
| c 1200 Ormin 5744 Acc himm birrþ þræpenn aȝȝ wiþþ skill Onnȝæness alle sinness. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 4352 Whan ȝe aȝens þe prechur þrepe. Ibid. 6065 Aȝens mokerers wyl y þrepe. c 1400 Destr. Troy 2152 Than..priam..Þonket hom þroly, þrappit no lengur. Ibid. 12235 He þroly with þrong wil þreppit agayn. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 79 Thank me not ouir airlie, for dreid that we threip. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) III. 454 The erle of Craufurd that same tyme and he,..Begouth to threip quha than that war best peiris. 15.. Ballad, Take thy old cloak about thee 67 It's not for a man with a woman to threape Unless he first gave oer the plea. 1755 Johnson, To Threap, a country word denoting to argue much or contend. 1847 C. Brontë J. Eyre xxix, They were so agreeable with each other—never fell out nor ‘threaped’. 1871 [see threaping vbl. n.]. 1873 Lytton Parisians ix. iii, Threep and argue as we may. |
† b. intr. To fight, struggle, strive, contend. Obs.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 504 Bot þenne þe weder of þe worlde wyth wynter hit þrepez. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 930 Of the nyghtgale notez the noisez was swette, They threpide wyth the throstilles, thre hundreth at ones! c 1400 Destr. Troy 2003 Þre dayes þroly þai þrappit with stormys. Ibid. 10098 Mony thoghtes full þro þrappit in his hert. Ibid. 12134 In þronge and in þraldom þrepe with þe werld. |
3. trans. (usu. with obj. clause.) To persist in asserting (something contradicted or doubted); to affirm positively or pertinaciously; to maintain obstinately or aggressively.
| c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 273 Sol gold is and Luna siluer we threpe. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 199 Thay threip that I thring doun of the fattest. 1509 Fisher Wks. (1876) 299 Some other threpe that he hathe forgoten theym. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Threpe,..to affirme positively, or to face one down with confidence; still used in the North. 1728 Ramsay Cameleon 26, I say he's blue; He threaps, he's green: now what say you? a 1774 Fergusson Drink Ecl. Poems (1845) 53 Will ye your breedin' threep ye mongrel loun? 1816 Scott Antiq. xxiv, He threeps the castle and lands are his ain as his mother's eldest son. 1887 P. M'Neill Blawearie 50 A group o' miners..threepit doon my throat that the grave..was only about four feet deep. |
b. to threap (a person) out of: to move or do (him) out of (something) by persistent assertion.
| 1677 Gilpin Demonol. (1867) 168 Thus are men threaped out of their own persuasions. 1885 J. Hartley Clock Alm. 40 (Yorks.) (E.D.D.) Shoo tried to threap me aght on it. |
c. with inf. To insist on or persist in doing something. rare—1.
| 1827 Scott Surg. Dau. i, She threeps to keep on a black fause-face, and skirls if we offer to take it away. |
4. to threap (something) upon (a person): † a. To impose (an assertion) upon; to lead or try to lead one to believe by persistent assertion. Obs.
| c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 482 When his servandis wolde eatt any gude meate, þai wolde threpe vppon hym at he was seke. 1530 Palsgr. 755/2, I threpe a mater upon one, I beare one in hande that he hath doone or saide a thing a mysse... This terme is..farre northren. He wolde threpe upon me that I have his penne. 1608 Hieron 2nd Pt. Def. Ministers' Reas. Refusal Subscription 72 Slaundring the Ministers and threaping one and the same..slaunder vpon them. |
† b. To impute, attribute, ascribe (something) to a person. to threap kindness or love upon (also of): to attribute kindness, etc. to; to give (one) credit for love or goodwill, to urge to the exercise of kindness. (See also 1 b.) Obs.
| 1559 W. Bercher Nobylytye Wymen (1904) 104 In dede..you threape kindenes vppon me, and surely..I can well a way w{supt}{suph} yo{supr} prayse. 1579 W. Wilkinson Confut. Familye of Loue 65 It is but a vayne kyndnes, which Theophilus in this place threapeth on God. 1589 R. Bruce Serm. (1843) 129 Thou suld threep kindness of him. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden 152 The baudie rymes he threapes vpon me. a 1603 T. Cartwright Confut. Rhem. N.T. (1618) 231 You do but threap kindnesse of the Hereticks, as you call them; for they acknowledge no such miracles to be done by your reliques. 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche v. ccxxvii, Behold how gross a Ly of Ugliness They on my face have threaped. 1660 Dickson Writings (1845) I. 42 If any wilt threap love upon God, they shall not be disappointed. 1730 T. Boston Serm. Song of Sol. ii. 17 Wks. 1855 V. 552 It will make men very peremptory for Christ, that they will not take a refusal, to threap kindness on him and special interest in him. |
c. To thrust, obtrude, press (something) upon a person; to urge upon him acceptance of or acquiescence in.
| 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. xviii. 3 If Sathan threpe any feare uppon us, it may be kept farre of from enterance. 1690 C. Nesse O. & N. Test. I. 68 Araunah had a princely spirit..but generous David threaps upon him fifty shekels. 1816 Scott Antiq. xv, Monkbarns had threepit on them to gang in till 't to see the wark o' the monks lang syne. 1869 ‘Ouida’ Puck xlii, Look'ee here! These arena goods to threap. |
5. to threap down: to put down or silence by vehement or pertinacious assertion; also, with double object (n. and clause), to threap (a person) down (that{ddd}): to try to force a statement upon (a person) by strength of assertion or insistent reiteration.
| 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe (1871) 51 Bolingbroke,..at his removing..into banishment, as Father Froissart threaps down, was accompanied with forty-thousand men, women, and children weeping. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 83 You may as well threap one down, that a ghost is heavier or lighter, colder or hotter,..whiter or blacker than a body. 1841 R. W. Hamilton Nugæ Lit. 340 A man will say of a clamorous talker, he did not convince me, but he threaped me down. 1877 Leigh Cheshire Gloss. s.v., He thraped me down it were noine, but I knowed it were a dozen. |
Hence ˈthreaping vbl. n. and ppl. a.; ˈthreaper, one who ‘threaps’ or persistently asserts.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxi. 167 ᵹif him mon to unᵹemetlice mid ðære ðreapunga oferfylᵹð. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 183 For þeft, & for þrepyng, vnþonk may mon haue. c 1400 Destr. Troy 10847 A thowsaund full þro, þrepand in wer. c 1440 York Myst. xl. 105 Thei thraste hym full thraly, þan was þer no threpyng. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxviii. 19 Do way youre threpyng! are ye wode? 1785 [W. Hutton] Bran New Wark 38 Naa brawling or threaping is heard. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb i, Johnny offered ‘sax poun’..after much ‘threepin’ as his ultimatum. 1871 P. H. Waddell Ps. xxxv. 11 Thar raise amang them threepers o' ill. 1899 Leeds Merc., Suppl. 18 Feb. (E.D.D.), Ah niver knew sich a threaper as thee. |